Last night was the first ever screening of Luke and Brie Are on a First Date, held at the Echo Park Film Center for cast, crew and good friends. I had never been to the venue before so I was really pleased to see it was a perfect environment for something like this. There were chairs and sofas, a cooler for all our beer, a very nice, helpful employee and the whole screening went off without a hitch. Most people had never seen the final cut before and some cast members had not seen any cut before so there was excitement amongst the crowd. I was nervous of course, even though I just wanted it to be a fun night and there were no real stakes. I managed to say a few words before hand and got the photo above of our audience. Then I watched the movie for the first time with a group of people. As you can imagine, its a beautiful experience. Certainly, it was a friendly crowd but they seemed to really respond to the film as it went along and I had a lot of nice things said to me afterwards. I drank three beers during the 76 minutes and that may just be the best way to see the movie. Thanks to everyone who worked hard on making this a reality and who came last night to share in the glory of a finished product. And thanks to those friends of friends who came to see a movie they probably thought would definitely be awful, since 99% of movies made by friends of friends are. And extra special thanks to the two people who were just wandering by and decided to stay and see the whole thing too before heading to the Echoplex for some dancing. They are the reason that Echo Park is an amazing community for artists to live and work.

Afterwards, we went to the Shortstop to quasi-celebrate my birthday, which is on Sunday. I tried to take some more pictures but I was mostly drunk and wound up so they’re mostly out of focus. A couple below.

Melissa Brown and Ray McCoy, my best friend from ten years ago whom I see far too infrequently.

Script supervisor Anne Walls worships the devil.

Lydia Hyslop, who gives the most crowd-pleasing performance in the film, pleases the dance floor crowd.

Meg Webster, who makes me look like a better director than I am with her first time performance.

Josh Locy, with a gross ponytail is still ten times the ladies man I’ll ever be.

Cinematographer Sean McElwee has a little bit of a buttchin. Who knew?

Editor Charlie Dugan may have a buttchin but we don’t know because he’s had a beard since he was 12.